Researchers spot pharmaceutical spam campaign using QR Codes

Spammers are no strangers to new technologies, and as true marketers,
would do everything to achieve the objectives of their marketing
campaign.

Security researchers from WebSense, have detected a spam campaign using QR codes. Scanning the QR code with a QR reader will load the pharmaceutical spam URL in the browser.

More details:

The spam email messages look like traditional
pharmaceutical spam emails (image 1) and contain a link to the Web site
2tag.nl. This is a legitimate Web service that allows users to create QR
codes for URLs. Once the 2tag.nl URL from the mail message is loaded in
the browser, a QR code is displayed, along with the full URL that the
QR code resolves to on the right (image 2). When the QR code is read by a
QR reader, it automatically loads the spam URL(or asks before loading,
depending on which flavor of QR reader you have installed) (images 3 and
4).

This isn’t the first time that cybercriminals use QR codes to spread
scams and malicious content. In September, 2011, security researchers
from Kaspersky Lab discovered a malware campaign relying on QR codes for spreading of mobile malware.